Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 02:47 pm
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) offered himself up as a potential Speaker of the House on Friday as if Republicans don’t have enough problems.
Issa also told MSNBC’s Morning Joe in the interview that he would not have the hubris to say whether he is the 240 candidate.
Video of Issa on MSNBC’s Morning Joe:
“The fact is that yes, I think that I can be potentially a candidate,” Issa said. He continued, “But at the same time, I agree with the vast majority of members, I think. That we need a Paul Ryan or we need somebody who is a) experienced, b) has been a committee chairman or something other than just up through the leadership ranks.”
Issa explained that Republicans need someone who will go to the mattresses (aka, shut down government and refuse to pay the bills) because they want “real fiscal reform”, “We very definitely need to pick our fights carefully, but we need somebody who’s willing to do those fights when the time comes because the motion of our party has been to the right, the new members, they’re more conservative, they’re more interested in real fiscal reform and they’ve been denied by the K Street, if you will, influence.”
Asked about Rep. Jason Chaffetz as a potential Speaker and how Issa thinks Chaffetz is doing with the role he took over from Issa as the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Issa made his displeasure known. Issa said Chaffetz got his job by going to Boehner and saying he would shut down the “rancor” that was going on, he would go along to get along and that is what he has done.
“He put shining pictures of Utah on the wall and he, he basically stopped doing it. There hasn’t been a single committee report or staff report published since he’s been chairman,” Issa said, sounding a bit like a sore loser over losing his role as Chief Faux Investigator of Hillary Clinton.
He’s a “good guy” but he isn’t holding “government” accountable, Issa said. “And I think that’s gonna hurt him, not whether I get in the race or not. It already hurt him. He didn’t have 30 votes going into the race, I don’t think he’s going to get the 240 but let’s understand something, I would not have the hubris to determine whether I’m the 240 candidate or Paul Ryan.”
“This is something where the conference has to dig deep, they have to ask the question of ‘who can we unite behind?’ This is a job you can’t run for. You can make yourself available for it, but the conference really has to look hard not for who’s got the most whips calling but who really can make a difference beyond 218, because the day after you’re Speaker, you have to make hard decisions.”
Not quite done throwing his own party members under the bus, Issa, whose infamy for several things – not one of them good – criticized Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) handling of the job, “And like Joe said earlier, you have to be able to go to people and say, ‘I promise you I will bring up your issue, but I need you to do this for me,’ and you’ve got to keep those promises. And that was one of the areas that Boehner ran out of places to say yes to.”
So basically, that’s Darrell Issa with a dagger to Chaffetz’ back for taking over his role as Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, aka, the Phony Scandal Manufacturing Committee to Bring Hillary Clinton’s Poll Numbers Down.
That is, at least, according to the now resigned-from-hoping for the Speakership Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), whose relentless countenance of smug arrogance made us miss Eric Cantor, even when he was spilling Republican secrets like using the Benghazi probe to bring down Hillary Clinton.
Issa is also not impressed with Boehner, and Issa, once a convicted criminal, is offering himself up as Speaker for the Republicans. Someone who can potentially get things done, if they can’t get their Dream Man Paul Ryan to take a break from his budgets that don’t balance to ruin his career by picking up the Speaker’s gavel in this den of nutters.
Darrell Issa is much like Sarah Palin in that he still doesn’t understand exactly what happened to his glory days as Head Attack Dog, back when he indicted Attorney General Eric Holder over nothing. Heady times. But soon Issa’s abuse of his power (at the direct or indirect behest of his party) became a problem and the party dumped him into obscurity like yesterday’s trash. Yes, he’s rich and all of that, but being on TV every day is a drug. He’s blaming Chaffetz for doing exactly what the party wants Chaffetz to do, cool down the scrutiny and let it ride while they ramp up the Hillary email scandal via the Benghazi Special Select Committee, where Trey Gowdy is doing Issa’s previous dirty work.
Darrell Issa will never be Speaker for many reasons, not the least of which is he already burned out his star.
The last thing the GOP needs right now is Darrell Issa. So naturally, here he is.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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